Disposable technology

[Bushwack44]

I know things move quickly regarding tech, but this is kind of nuts.

While I've been a DISH TV customer for a few years, two of the four receivers I had were failing about four months ago. DISH decided to replace all four - Two were the Hopper receivers that each allowed 4 recording at one time and the other two were receivers of no major significance.

I called DISH TV to deactivate 3 of 4 receivers I has connected to TVs in the house (in the process of cutting the cord). No problems with deactivation but as they are only four months old, DISH doesn't want them back. They sent me an e-mail with names of nearby e-waste recycling centers to use.

Tech that's about 4-6 months old and they have no use for them. Looking at the bigger picture, it just reminds me how disposable everything is (not just tech). I also feel human life isn't far behind from casually being considered disposable. But let us save that topic for another day in another forum.

[CGT80]

You...........someone........paid for those boxes!

Think about how much money they waste on that as a company. It makes me wonder how much that kind of crap effects the amount you pay for service. I am sure they buy or produce the boxes at an economical price, since they use so many of them, but they aren't free.

I detail stripped my mouse, the other day, and cleaned it up. It was pretty dirty after 10 years (from what I can remember) and a "bore snake" just wasn't getting the job done. Now it works great and I was impressed with the build quality. It was an expensive mouse when I bought it as it is a logitech MX 1000 laser mouse with a lithium battery. The new version is 90 bucks.

Honestly, I was expecting that I might break it by taking it apart and was ready to order a new one. It seems like most things are throw away now.

Are there any good hard drives in those boxes?

[sl0re10]

Could have something to do with the return of bedbugs and other liabilities (re: they got thinking about them)...

They used to resuse them.

Then there is min wage... I mean if you need to pay everyone $15 to process these for redeployment.

[catmman]

Its not that it is disposable it is that the costs of boxing, shipping, tracking, inspecting, restoring to a factory image, cleaning, storing outweigh or are negated by the cost of the customer wanting always wanting a new unit and the price since they buy them in bulk.

[Bushwack44]

Its not that it is disposable it is that the costs of boxing, shipping, tracking, inspecting, restoring to a factory image, cleaning, storing outweigh or are negated by the cost of the customer wanting always wanting a new unit and the price since they buy them in bulk.

Well...that makes it disposable. You always have to calculate the misc costs associated with an item to determine its value.

[catmman]

It would be disposable to them and possibly not disposable to you. I got one from a friend to take apart and play with for fun.

[Bushwack44]

Yesterday I gave them to my brother-in-law who has more televisions than the family needs. Long story short, he tinkered with one and already has it where he can record 4 programs simultaneously while watching a fifth program (before he could only record 2 while watching a third).

This is what people do when they retire at 50

It would be disposable to them and possibly not disposable to you. I got one from a friend to take apart and play with for fun.

[Wherryj]

Well...that makes it disposable. You always have to calculate the misc costs associated with an item to determine its value.

Penn and Teller did an entire episode on their show BS about how recycling in many cases actually wastes more resources than throwing it away and re-mining/manufacturing a new item. It's those associated costs that add up.

Oh, and the reason that CA went away from paper bags to the plastic ones years ago was the savings in manufacturing and shipping. You can ship thousands of those plastic bags for the cost of dozens of paper bags (heavier, take up more space, etc.). When the enviro-nazis were working to ban plastic bags, they neglected to mention that the newer bags actually biodegrade faster than paper.